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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24689101">Sweet Lies</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/pcwife/pseuds/pcwife'>pcwife</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Artificial [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>K-pop, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Angst, Angst and Tragedy, Evil Corporations, Multi, Series, Short Story Series, struggling against The Man</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-20 07:14:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>412</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24689101</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/pcwife/pseuds/pcwife</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jin visits 'Upper Management' and everything goes badly. But he's used to it by now, as they all are. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>This is the first in a series of short stories showing snippets of BTS' lives in a parallel universe where they are consistently placed under the thumb of an increasingly controlling and capitalist corporation determined to turn them into products.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Artificial [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1784980</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Sweet Lies</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jin stumbled out of the office, straightening his jacket. It had been another unsuccessful meeting with the higher-ups, but at least this time he hadn’t gotten any visible bruises. He’d gotten better and better at avoiding direct hits over the past few months – something he’d never thought he’d be learning to do in his 20s.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Noticing that one of his cuffs was frayed, he sighed and rubbed at the scuffed hem. Turns out trying to block a vase flying at you with your sleeve was asking too much from the ‘reinforced leather’ design. The ‘reinforced’ bit must just be marketing. So much for planning ahead for these meetings’ inevitable violence by wearing sturdier clothing. He hadn’t even asked for much this time – just an update on that drama cameo that his staff had mentioned months ago. It’s like it was becoming the norm to just respond with forcefulness to any of their requests.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Ever since the last board meeting, especially, ‘Upper Management’ had gotten even testier than usual. 4 years ago when their CEO had excitedly let them know that he’d gotten some huge investors, the team had never imagined that things would get this bad. Jin didn’t know what other dreams the members had immediately imagined for themselves when they heard the news, but he’d seen himself finally make an appearance on the Blue Dragon film awards at least. Maybe with his beautiful co-star accompanying him. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘This move will bring us to new heights-’ Bang PD had said. ‘…open new doors for us.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But Bang PD himself didn’t even have offices on the upper floors anymore. Jin wasn’t sure where ‘Upper Management’ had relocated him to, but they rarely saw him at all these days. And every time they did, he sounded like he as reading off a script. The team figured he wasn’t in charge anymore.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He’d sold the entire company’s souls to a board of directors. And now Jin was an indentured slave.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Turning to look back at their line supervisor’s door again, Jin sighed and didn’t bother wishing things were different. They were all in too deep now.<br/>
In the elevator to the parking lot, he straightened the official BTS sweatshirt that he was wearing under his fancy, useless jacket. If he was gonna get terrorized by fansites on his way home, he might as well take the opportunity to advertise some of their new merchandise. His manager kept complaining that he was barely meeting his marketing quota.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi everyone!<br/>Since I only seem to get drabbles done these days I thought why not start a new one. This will be a series I update to every now and then. It will be definitely different to write a BTS-only fic but this was the first idea I got once I was in the writing mood (because my sister was watching a VLIVE of theirs <strong>very</strong> loudly in the living room lol) so here we go</p>
<p>Come talk to me on <a href="https://twitter.com/pcwifey">twitter</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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